San Francisco

As you can tell from the pictures below... we had an unbelievable time visiting Bruce & Cindy in San Francisco.

Muir Woods Redwood Forest & San Francisco Botanical Gardens

On our last day in San Francisco we went to see the redwoods at Muir Woods. Amazingly enough, the stream running through Muir Woods is a salmon & stealhead trout spawning ground. We actually spotted several fingerlings swimming in the water.

We also went to the San Francisco Botanical Gardens. It was amazing... a succulent paradise.

Napa Valley

On Saturday, we drove up through the rain to Napa Valley. The first winery that we visited was Chateau Montelena. They grew their grapes using older methods without the use of irrigation. We tasted $100 bottles of wine and I must say that I have never tasted wine that amazing! It was extremely complex and well balanced. They had a traditional Chinese water garden in the back. That afternoon we moved on to Sterling, a large corporate winery. They had a great self-guided tour and a tram ride to view the vineyard.

17 Mile Drive, Pebble Beach, & Carmel

On Friday, we drove the 17 Mile Drive - stopping to view some tide pools and the famous Lone Cypress. We also visited the Pebble Beach Golf Course 18th hole. The view was absolutely breathtaking. I can't imagine playing golf here! From there we drove to Carmel for some shop browsing. Carmel reminded me of a quaint little English village.

Lover's Point

Of the many places that we stopped on Friday, Lover's Point was one of my favorites. We were able to enjoy the views and the wildlife. Pictured below is a sea otter feeding in the kelp forest and a harbor seal who ventured up toward us curiously.

Monarch Butterflies

On Thursday night we stayed the night at the Butterfly Inn just south of Monterey. Directly behind the inn was a monarch butterfly wintering habitat. It's quite amazing really... Most monarchs live only 4 to 6 weeks, but every 4th generation lives 8+ months! This generation flies south for the winter. The monarchs who reside west of the Rockies fly to the California coast for the winter and this was one of their prefered spots - lucky us! Those east of the Rockies fly to central Mexico.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

On Thurday we drove down to Monterey to visit the aquarium. They had a breaktaking Jellyfish exhibit and some amazing ocean "views" including a million gallon tank with tuna, ocean sunfish, and a great white shark. Ryan's favorite was, of course, the "rainbow trout spawning stream."

San Francisco Bay Oil Spill

Maybe some of you have heard about the oil spill that happened in San Fran Bay this week. On Wednesday we went for our first sail on Blue Yonder and as soon as we passed under the Golden Gate Bridge we noticed (and smelled) patches of thick black oil on the water. We first wondered if it was a small incident but heard on the VHF radio boats all across the bay calling in reports to the coastguard. It turns out that morning a huge container ship (810 feet long, larger than the Titanic) had run into a bridge piling and dumped a diesel fuel/oil mixture into the bay. Initial reports from the coastguard estimated the spill at 140 gallons but the actual amount was closer to 50,000 gallons. Pretty much every beach in the area is closed and dozens of birds have already been found dead...obviously the town is in an uproar and no one yet knows the cause of the incident; although it was a foggy morning, most every morning in San Francisco is. The pilot was trained specifically to go in and out of the bay and had highly sophisticated radar. We'll post an update if they ever determine the cause. Luckily we still had a great day of sailing once we got into the open ocean; though Dad had to hire a diver to clean the oil off the hull of the boat! We took the first picture below but it doesn't do justice to the amount of oil we saw on the water, the other two pictures we pulled from the San Francisco Chronicle website.

Our First Sail on the Blue Yonder

On Wednesday afternoon we went for our first sail on the Blue Yonder! We sailed underneath the Golden Gate Bridge and out into the Pacific. It was pleasantly chilly and enjoyable! But.. we did notice quite a bit of oil sludge in the water and were wondering what had happened. All the coast guard would say was that "they were aware of the problem and were generating a response." We sailed on and soaked up the sights!

We're in San Francisco!

We arrived on Tuesday evening and went downtown to see Bruce's office. We picked him up and rode the trolley a bit! Then we went to this amazing restaurant called The Slanted Door. The ambiance was great and the food was even better! On Wednesday morning, we drove around San Francisco to get a feel for the city. We visited Lombard Street - "the crooked-est street in the world."

My Birthday!

I turned 26 yesterday, but we've been celebrating for days now. It all started last Tuesday.. Josh and Nicole came over to spend the night and cooked us an amazing dinner. On Friday 40 of our closet friends came out to the ranch for a mad dance party. Several people spent the night and Saturday we hiked around the property and Greg introduced us to his amazing kite! It doesn't look like much, but this kite is ridiculous! On Sunday, my mom and Nathan came up. And yesterday (my birthday) my dad flew in. Cherie, of course, cooked up a gourmet feast and we chowed - complete with a flourless chocolate cake! My favorite! What a celebration! I feel so blessed! Today Ryan and I are flying out to San Fran to visit Bruce & Cindy! I can hardly wait!